rz

A multi-format archive tool written in Rust. Compress, decompress, test, list, and inspect tar, zip, and 7z archives through a single, consistent CLI — no more remembering whether it's tar xzf, unzip, or 7z x.

Supported formats

Format is auto-detected from the output extension (compress) or magic bytes then extension (decompress/list/info). You can override with --format.

Installation

From source

cargo install --path .

With optional C-backed codecs

The default build is pure Rust. For faster xz and bzip2 via C libraries:

cargo install --path . --features xz2,bzip2

Nix

nix build              # default (pure Rust)
nix build .#with-xz2   # with C-backed xz
nix build .#with-xz2-bzip2

Or run directly:

nix run . -- compress mydir -o mydir.tar.gz

Prebuilt binaries

Download from the releases page. Binaries are provided for Linux (x86_64, aarch64), macOS (x86_64, aarch64), and Windows (x86_64).

Usage

Compress

# Compress a directory (format inferred from extension)
rz compress mydir -o mydir.tar.gz

# Compress multiple inputs
rz compress src/ Cargo.toml -o project.zip

# Explicit format, custom compression level
rz compress mydir -o archive -f tar-gz -l 9

# Exclude patterns (glob, repeatable)
rz compress mydir -o mydir.tar.gz --exclude '*.log' --exclude node_modules

# Compress to stdout (tar-based formats; requires --format)
rz compress mydir -o - -f tar-gz | ssh host 'rz d - -f tar-gz'

# Short alias
rz c mydir -o mydir.tar.zst

Decompress

# Extract to current directory
rz decompress mydir.tar.gz

# Extract to a specific directory
rz decompress mydir.tar.gz -o /tmp/out

# Strip the top-level directory wrapper
rz decompress mydir.tar.gz --strip-components 1

# Exclude files during extraction
rz decompress mydir.zip --exclude '*.test.js'

# Extract only matching files (--include glob or positional paths)
rz decompress project.tar.gz --include '*.rs'
rz decompress release.tar.gz src/main.rs

# Extract a file to stdout
rz decompress release.tar.gz -O config.toml

# Read archive from stdin (tar-based formats; requires --format)
cat mydir.tar.gz | rz decompress - -f tar-gz -o /tmp/out

# Overwrite existing files
rz decompress mydir.tar.gz -F

# Short alias
rz d mydir.tar.gz

List

# List archive contents
rz list mydir.tar.gz

# Detailed output (permissions, sizes)
rz list mydir.zip -l

# Filter listing
rz list mydir.tar.gz --exclude '*.log'

# Short alias
rz ls mydir.tar.gz

Test

# Verify archive integrity (fully decompress without writing to disk)
rz test mydir.tar.gz
# ok

# Short alias
rz t mydir.tar.gz

Info

# Show archive metadata
rz info mydir.tar.gz
# Format:       tar.gz
# Entries:      42
# Compressed:   1048576 bytes
# Uncompressed: 3145728 bytes

Global options

Feature flags

Without these features, xz uses the pure-Rust lzma-rs crate (buffers the archive in memory before compressing) and bzip2 is unavailable.

Known limitations

• tar.zst compression level: The pure-Rust ruzstd encoder currently only supports a single compression level (Fastest, roughly zstd level 1). --level 0 selects uncompressed framing; all other values use Fastest.
• tar.xz / tar.zst memory usage: Without the xz2 feature, xz and zstd compression buffers the entire tar archive in memory before compressing. For large archives, consider enabling the xz2 feature for streaming xz.
• 7z format: Does not support --strip-components. Extracts contents flat (does not preserve the top-level directory wrapper).
• Stdin/stdout streaming: Only tar-based formats support - for stdin/stdout. ZIP and 7z require seekable I/O and will error.
• Symlinks: Followed during compression rather than stored as symlinks.

License

GPL-3.0-only